Kisses in the Rain
by 2queens1prince
Summary: From a lilacmermaid prompt about Henry and Elizabeth kissing in the rain. These are a series of snippets from their life.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is just a series of vignettes of our OTP kissing in the rain. This is the first installment. There will for sure be a second round.

Summer 1988

They were waiting in line for the Monster Coaster. It was just after noon and the temperature topped 100℉. Henry and Elizabeth stood side by side, shifting uncomfortably having exhausted polite conversation. It was just their third date. Henry wondered if this would be the last. They had really hit it off on the first date and had continued the trend on their second date, but now, wandering around the carnival had been rather lackluster. He looked over at Elizabeth. Her blond waves were swept up in a loose bun on top of her head. She wore a white cotton sleeveless shirt and denim shorts that hugged her small frame and white canvas shoes. Her skin was glistening and sweat made the tendrils of hair next to her ear stick to her face. She was so beautiful, Henry had trouble regulating his breathing.

Elizabeth looked up at Henry and smiled, then looked away bashfully. He was handsome. Somehow his sandy brown hair was resistant to the sweat that was plentiful on her own body. It blew loosely in the hot breeze. He had on a red t-shirt and khaki shorts and sandals. Other than the beads of sweat that formed along his brow, he looked amazingly cool. She wondered if Henry was losing interest. He hadn't said a lot on this date. On their previous dates, they had both talked non-stop. She supposed it was the heat, and her general nervousness about all carnival rides. It wasn't exactly that she was scared, but she just didn't enjoy them all that much. She'd agreed to come today because it was Henry and she didn't realize that she would likely melt before she ever got to an actual jerky, poorly maintained carnival ride.

The bright light shooting through the sky dragged her from her thoughts and it was quickly followed by loud thunder. "This doesn't look good," Henry said.

"At least we may get some relief from the heat," Elizabeth commented.

The dark ominous clouds rolled in and people started scattering. The wind picked up, but it was cooler. When it hit Elizabeth's damp skin, she shivered. "We should take cover," Henry said, noticing her goosebumps. Elizabeth saw the lightning in the sky a second time and pointed as the low rumble of thunder shook the ground.

"Maybe that's a good idea," she said. They started to make their way across the fairgrounds to Henry's car when the sky opened up and rain pelted them. Most people were running for shelter, but Elizabeth stopped, looked up at the sky and turned in circles. "This feels so good," she yelled over the roar of the rain, now falling in sheets..

She stopped and looked at Henry, who was watching her while wearing a goofy grin on his face. He reached out to her. "Come here," he said. She took his hand and allowed herself to be pulled close to him. "I'm sorry this date has been a little off," he whispered in her ear.

Elizabeth pulled back to and looked at him for a moment, then she placed her hand on the back of his neck and pulled his ear close to her mouth. "I have really high hopes from here on out," she said, her voice low and seductive, causing Henry's stomach to tighten. She placed a row of kisses along his jaw before letting him go. He stood up straight and studied her. Her face was wet from the rain, but her eyes were open wide, ready to accept whatever he may offer. He leaned back down and captured her lips in his before targeting her bottom lip, sucking it gently and letting his hand drop dangerously low on her back.

"I feel like we should go to the car and practice this a little, while we wait for the rain to stop," she said.

"Practice makes perfect." He grinned and pulled her along beside him as they ran to the car.

Fall 1992

Elizabeth leaned against a stool in the middle of a meadow. "Can someone please tell me what the hell I agreed to here?" she muttered under her breath. Henry laughed as the photographer directed him to drop his chin and step a little closer to Elizabeth.

"Wedding pictures are a treasure for a lifetime. Now smile, babe," he said, using his best ventriloquist act.

"I guarantee that I'll be thinking something particular when I see these. Even in my old age." She smiled and the photographer snapped several pictures.

The wind kicked up. "Good news! I have enough hairspray and bobby pins in my hair that no amount of wind is going to move this do!" Henry dropped his head on her shoulder and laughed heartily, causing the photographer great distress.

"Babe, let's help the poor woman out. Besides, the sooner we do this, the sooner we can get to the reception, and the sooner we get through that, the sooner I can whisk you off and get you out of this fabulous dress and have my way with you." Henry kissed the shell of her ear and ran his thumbs down her bare spine.

"What's next?" Elizabeth called. With her on board, their pictures went rather quickly and they were walking back to the car when the sky suddenly clouded over and tiny raindrops started to fall.

Elizabeth smiled at Henry. "Rain is lucky for us,"

"It is," he said, pecking her on the lips. "Jump up." She shot him an confused look. I'm going to piggy back you to the car, otherwise you are going to get soaked.

"Okay, but this dress probably weighs 30 pounds," she said.

"Babe, I'm a Marine. My pack weighs more than you and the dress, and I carry it for miles."

She grinned, hiked up her dress and wrapped an arm around his shoulders and let him lift her off the ground. "But your pack probably doesn't nibble your earlobe or kiss your neck," she giggled. Henry groaned.

The rain started to fall harder. When Henry got Elizabeth to the car, he set her on the ground. "It's payback time," he said, pressing her between himself and the side of the car, kissing her passionately. She might have lodged a protest about her dress getting dirty, but she couldn't put two thoughts together, instead she moaned.

Spring 1995

"Henry," she called from the nursery. "Henry?" she called a second time. When he didn't come, she maneuvered past the boxes in the hallway and made her way down the stairs to the living room. "Henry?" Still no answer. Looking out the window, she saw the spring rains falling. She smiled. The flowers the last owners had planted might last a while longer. She was still looking out the window as she crossed the living room. Misjudging the size of her ever-growing baby bump, she ran into a box marked "Photo Albums." "Oooph," she grunted. "Sorry, baby girl," she said, rubbing the spot on her stomach, hoping that it wouldn't leave a bruise.

Her mind drifted back to Henry, and she looked out the kitchen window and smiled. He was sitting on the back porch drinking a beer. It was something he refused to do in front of her, now that she couldn't drink while pregnant.

She slipped through the door and sidled up beside him and brushing her hand through his wet hair. He jumped, but looked up at her smiling sheepishly. "I needed a break." He helped her sit down next to him on the step. He set the beer bottle to the side.

"I don't mind. You can finish it. Besides, I'll get it second hand," He grinned and swallowed the last bit. She took hold of the back of his head and leaned into him, plunging her tongue into his mouth. He shifted his weight and turned into her, placing his hand on her stomach. The rain had picked up and when she pulled back a raindrop landed on her nose. Henry kissed it off.

"You're getting awfully wet," Henry said.

"Yeah." She leaned in kissing him again. "You know, we haven't christened the shower yet." Henry stood and pulled her to her feet.

"That's a situation that needs to be remedied immediately."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Thanks for all of the positive reviews. These are a little shorter, so I'm getting better at the drabble thing (not really-it was a terribly painful process to cut out words). I hope you like it.

Summer 2003

Henry stood inside the hangar at Langley waiting not so patiently. He paced back and forth. Elizabeth's plane was due in an hour ago. He'd just talked to her the previous day, before they boarded the plane leaving Germany. She'd spent the last eight months in Iraq as a lead interrogator. Henry was excited to see her, but he couldn't drown out the anxiousness he also felt. He didn't know what it would look like when she came home. He remembered vividly how hard it had been when he returned from his deployments and he was flying planes 20,000 feet up. He didn't sit face to face with evil day after day.

Dark clouds hung in the sky adding to the already dreary mood of the day. As plane touched down, the sky opened up and rain poured down. He watched as the plane made its way off the runway and toward the hangar. It stopped a couple hundred feet from where he stood at the opening. Miscellaneous military officers deboarded and then there she was, standing at the door of the plane. Any concerns Henry had with regard to the coming weeks and months vanished and he stopped breathing. She walked down the stairs, being careful not to slip on the wet steps. When her feet touched the ground, Henry couldn't hold himself back any longer. He ran to meet her halfway. He picked her up and she clung to him, their tears indistinguishable from the rain. He kissed her cheek and moved to her lips. When their lips met, there was a desperation that they hadn't known before. She had been as anxious as he was, and as they explored each other for the first time in eight months, they both let go of that, knowing they would be okay.

Spring 2005

Elizabeth wrung her hands together. She sat in the car debating how long she could reasonably stay there before it was obvious that she was avoiding her home. The windshield wipers raked across the glass, once again bringing her home into view. She left the CIA just three weeks ago, after having worked there almost 16 years. She was adrift, now wandering aimlessly through life. She was still a mother, a role which she loved dearly, and a wife. She was unsure how she felt about that.

Henry had issued the ultimatum. If she took the station chief position in Baghdad, she would be gone for at least a year. He had told her that he didn't know what it would look like when she returned. He made her choose: him and the kids or a job that she loved. Obviously she would never willingly give up Henry and the kids, so she quit, but now, not having the job, she had a gaping hole in her life. Add to that, she and Henry had never been so out of sync. She didn't blame him for the choice she made, but she did blame him for forcing her to choose.

As the wipers swished across the windshield once again, she saw Henry standing on the front porch. Busted. She might as well get out and go face the awkward silence that they now surrounded themselves with. Elizabeth opened the door and was hit with a wall of water as the rain poured down on her. She grimaced, but couldn't really bring herself to care all that much. She got out and trudged up the walk and up the three steps to the porch to where Henry stood waiting. "You're wet," he commented.

"Yeah," she mumbled, unable to start any kind of conversation with him.

"Listen, babe, I'm sorry. I wish it would've happened differently. I hate seeing you like this." He reached out and took her hands. "Tell me what I can do to make it better. To make you better."

"I don't know. I'm empty. It takes everything I have to be functional for the kids. I hope it will get better, but right now, I'm angry and I don't know how to fix it."

Henry pulled her toward him and kissed her forehead, still wet from the rain and then placed a chaste kiss on her lips. I'm sorry." He stepped away and she sat down on the top step and cried.

Fall 2014

Elizabeth sat in the swivel chair on the back deck holding the $5 bill in her hand. She studied the word on the back. "Tamerlane. What is that supposed to mean?" she murmured.

"Hey babe. What are you doing out here? It's chilly." Low thunder rumbled in the background. "And it's going to rain."

"I know. I'll be in soon. I'm just trying to process this. What are we getting ourselves into Henry?" she implored.

"I don't know. But we are better off knowing that not knowing." He motioned to her. She moved from the chair to swing to sit next to him and he covered her with a quilt.

"Thanks," Elizabeth leaned into Henry's side. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but I want to know that you'll be safe."

"I'm surrounded by DS agents 24/7," she said.

"And George was a trained CIA operative and knew something was going down and he still fell victim. We can't be too careful." Henry studied her. The thunder rumbled again. "Tell me that you won't do anything crazy."

"I promise," she said. She tilted her head back to look at him and Henry took the opportunity to lower his head and take her upper lip in his, stilling only for a moment before brushing his tongue against it. Her lips parted willingly and let him in. She wrapped herself around him tighter as the rain started to fall. She willed the droplets to wash away her fears.

Spring 2018

Elizabeth walked through the door, dropping her bag, coat and shoes just inside. She was exhausted, happy, but exhausted.

"You're home," Henry said, smiling as he came into the living room. He swept her into a warm embrace and kissed her. "Welcome back. How'd it go?"

She smiled warmly, "We got it done. Nuclear disarmament is a reality."

"I'm so happy for you babe. Should we celebrate with a drink?" She nodded.

"Let me go change. I'll meet you on the deck."

Fifteen minutes later, she sat on the swing with her legs draped over Henry, a scotch in her hand. They sat together for a long while in silence. Elizabeth had her whole being wrapped up in this disarmament deal since the near miss incident the month prior. She didn't realize how wound up she'd been until this moment. As she sat next to Henry, with each breath she took, she unraveled a little further. Henry had been focused on his own thoughts and it was her gasp that brought him back to reality.

"Babe?" he suddenly shifted into a protective mode. She pulled her feet off his lap and turned her body, putting her head between her knees trying to regulate her breathing. Henry took the glass from her. "It's okay," he said, rubbing circles on her back. "Slow deep breaths. Okay, you've got it. Just breathe, slow and easy."

When she calmed, Henry brought her back up and she rested against his chest. Raindrops landed sporadically on the deck around them and she focused on the soft thump of the drops hitting the swing awning where they sat.

"All of a sudden, the weight of the situation just hit me. We were so close. If we hadn't been able to get this deal worked out, it could've happened again and maybe we wouldn't be so lucky. Maybe no one could stop it in time." Her breathing became shallow again just thinking of it

"But you got it done. It was scary, but you fixed it."

"But what if I didn't?"

"But you did." Henry placed a kiss on her temple and then one on her cheek. "You can't 'what if' the situation now. You've done everything you can to make sure it doesn't happen. That's all you can do."

The rain tapped out a steady beat on the wooden deck with a softer pelting noise on the swing awning. Elizabeth closed her eyes and leaned against Henry. "Thank you for always being beside me. I couldn't do it without you."

"I'll always be here." He tipped her head back and kissed her softly. His lips were warm and soft against hers filling her with a deep contentment. "Let's go to bed babe. You're worn out."

"In a minute. I want to just sit here with you and enjoy the rain." Pressing a kiss to her head, he pulled her in a little closer and gave the swing a gentle push. They could sit here together all night if she wanted.


End file.
